Friday, June 16, 2006

Liverpool 2 - 0 Trinidad & Tobago

Finally we seeth problem of trying to accomodate Gerrard and Lampard in the same midfield.

Playing Lampard negates Gerrards best abilities. Gerrard can track back and cover so he tends to play deeper. This frees Lampard, but as he is in such poor form, it is not worthwhile.

Cole also had a poor game yesterday, but a swift kick up the backside will sort him - fewer step overs and more killer balls please.

Next match, give Lamps a rest, move Becks inside and tell him to sit -which he can do. This will free Gerrard to make his deep runs from midfield. Play Lennon out wide on right with instructions to run at the Sweedes. Start with Rooney & Owen upfront - Keep Crouch as an impact player for late in the game and also use Lamps later on as well.

Without deflections, Lampards shooting is pretty rubbish. It was last night anyway. Gerrard only got into shooting positions on a couple of occassions and showed what he can do with his left foot.

Gerrard would be the the better option as the more attacking of the two, but Lampard doesn't have the discipline to stay back, and his tackling isn't as good as Gerrards. Thats generally why Gerrard sit's back more. On his day, Lampard is a quality player and a real threat, last night wasn't his day.

Looking at the positives, England are through with a game to spare, with 2 wins and no goals conceeded. Much better than we have done in previous tournaments. I just feel that the first quality team we meet will knock us out though.

Chelsea fans on here - I'm not using this as an opportunity to have a crack at Lampard (although some might be!) cos he's a quality player. BUT you need to face facts and realise at the moment he's just not cutting it for England. And there is no way that Gerrard and Lampard are combining well!

Gerrard finished the season in fantastic form and scored a corker last night - he needs to be given the attacking role, and Lampard should be dropped. SIMPLE AS THAT.

NB: I am willing to rescind this entire statement if Lampard plays really well in the next game.

4 Comments:

For the next game, he should have carrick, gerrad, lennon and downing start off as the midfield with crouch and rooney up front and tinker with the defence too (even play 3 at the back and stick someone else in midfield).We don't need to win the match, it would give some of the squad members a game, it would put some players in their preferred positions and it might even deliver some good football.

And is it me or hasn't Joe Coles balls dropped. He sounds like a right spacker.

Hi buddy..I am a good fan of Liverpool. But, with all due respect to Liverpool and its players, I firmly believe that the goals from the Liverpool players could not have been scored had it not been assisted by players from other clubs!!! Meaning, even though it was only the Liverpool players who scored the goals, it was all down to a team effort where other non-Liverpool players including the Chelsea/ManU or other teams (whom you love to hate) assisted in setting up!!! I hope you understand this..Of course, no offence meant to the Liverpool players..it was a superb effort from them nonetheless...

Yes, you bet!!! I am also sure that Chelsea/ManU blogs would be howling with similar lines if some one from them had scored..but must agree that Gerrard IS Gerrard..And I had the pleasure of watching him play, amidst a raucous English/British crowd at a pub here at Darmstadt, near Frankfurt!!! Cool time to be in Germany, eh?